Bruce Lemnitzer

Bruce Lemnitzer (28 August 1892-2 December 1967) was a Lieutenant-General in the US Army who commanded the US 1st Armored Division during World War II.

Biography
Bruce Lemnitzer was born on 28 August 1892 in Detroit, Michigan, and he served with the US Army in the Philippines before fighting in World War I on the Western Front. Lemnitzer rose in the ranks during peacetime, becoming a military instructor at Fort Dix and in Corpus Christi during the Interwar Years. When World War II broke out in 1941, he was recalled to active service, and he was given command of the US 1st Armored Division. Lemnitzer and 1st Armored arrived in North Africa on 8 November 1942 during Operation Torch, expelling Vichy France from Morocco and Algeria and allowing for the Free French to assume control over France's African territories. The division suffered heavy losses against Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps at Sidi Bou Zid on 14 February 1943, but the division assisted in the push to Cap Bon before reorganizing in Morocco in October. Lemnitzer then led the invasion in Operation Avalanche, taking part in the landings at Salerno. From October 1943 to May 1945, the 1st Armored Division fought a tough campaign to move up the "boot" of Italy while fighting against the German Wehrmacht and the forces of the Italian Social Republic. On 2 May 1945, the day that Nazi Germany surrendered, 1st Armored ended the war in the Po Valley. The division returned to New York in 1946, and Lemnitzer returned to Detroit, where he died in 1967.